What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 3/8/2021

Loyola Chicago gets MVC crown over Drake, 7th NCAA berth--Associated Press
College Basketball Viewing Guide for Sunday, March 7, 2021--Blogging The Bracket

MVC Championship

Game 9: No. 2 Drake (24-3, 15-3) vs. No. 1 Loyola Chicago (23-4, 16-2), 2 p.m. (CBS)
The pair split their season series 1-1 (at Drake).

Provided the Bulldogs aren’t blown out today, the dream of a #2BidValley should come true, thanks to their narrow win over Missouri State and the Ramblers’ rout of Indiana State in Saturday’s Arch Madness semifinals. Drake last reached the field in 2008, while the Ramblers advanced to the Final Four in their last appearance in 2018.

Bracketology 2021: A decent Saturday for mid-major bubble teams--Blogging The Bracket

Missouri State gave Drake a fight in the second Arch Madness semifinal on Saturday, but the Bulldogs prevailed and set themselves up for an at-large if they fail to win the title today.
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
The bubble teams that got the best news yesterday are those from the Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, and Mountain West. In both Richmond and St. Louis, the top two seeds booked places in their respective league finals. Loyola Chicago and Drake will meet today to settle Arch Madness (2 p.m., CBS), while St. Bonaventure and VCU will travel to Dayton in one week’s time to conclude the A 10’s festivities. All four teams are in line to make the field win or lose, though Saint Louis’ blowout loss to the Bonnies in yesterday’s first Atlantic 10 semifinal will leave the Billikens sweating.

March Madness 2021: Conference tournaments, brackets, schedules, scores, NCAA Tournament automatic bids--The Athletic

Maybe Winthrop could have gotten an at-large bid to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Loyola Chicago definitely could have.

No matter, both are going to the men’s basketball tournament after winning the Big South and Missouri Valley Conference tournaments on Sunday, respectively.

Winthrop throttled Campbell 80-53 behind 22 points from D.J. Burns, and then Loyola Chicago beat Drake 75-65 in Arch Madness. It set up a major question: Can Drake (25-4 this season) get an at-large bid? The Bulldogs have a compelling case but there are still a lot of conference tournaments to be played.

Bracket Watch: The filling of the 2021 NCAA Tournament field has begun--The Athletic

Oh, sure, we’ve known for months that a team such as, say, Baylor was going to make the NCAA Tournament. But that’s more like clarity. Certainty is harder to come by and only occurs when a team wins its conference tournament or hears its name called on Selection Sunday. So congratulations are in order to Liberty (Atlantic Sun), Morehead State (Ohio Valley), Winthrop (Big South) and Loyola Chicago (Missouri Valley) on winning their respective league tourneys and collecting their official spots in the field of 68.
Some other notes on the bracket, now coming at you daily until Selection Sunday …
• Drake lost to Loyola Chicago in the Arch Madness championship game and will present a fascinating test case for the committee. The Bulldogs won only one postseason game, against Missouri State after a quarterfinal matchup against Northern Iowa was canceled because of contact tracing issues. They have just one Q1 win, against a Loyola team they went 1-2 against. They have two Q3 losses, and arguably their best two players are injured and missing from the lineup. Yet they are 23-4. What does the committee value here? We can’t wait to find out.

ARCH MADNESS: Yesufu’s Last-Second Layup Sends Drake to Championship Game--Off The Inbound